Trump to address nation tonight about national security crisis on border

President Trump takes his case for border security directly to American voters Tuesday night in a prime-time address aimed at enlisting the public’s help in convincing Congress to pony up billions of dollars for his border wall.

The president will then jet to the border on Thursday for an up-close look at what he says is a dire security crisis.

He’s pondering declaring a national emergency and enlisting the military to construct the wall, circumventing congressional Democrats who have insisted they won’t approve any new money for his border-barrier vision.

Vice President Mike Pence, briefing reporters Monday, said no decision has been made and they’re still studying the legal justification.

He said they’d prefer to get a deal done on Capitol Hill, but their outreach has been met with silence as the partial government shutdown stretches into its third week.

“When are the Democrats going to start negotiating?” Mr. Pence said. “There is a crisis at the southern border. We just need the Democrats to start negotiating.”

Mr. Pence and other top administration officials held talks with Democratic congressional staffers over the weekend, and he said the president has invited Democratic leaders back to the White House this week for new talks, but so far there has been no response.

“We hope they take us up on it,” he said.

Democrats have been adamant there can’t be any deal until Mr. Trump agrees to reopen the government. About 350,000 federal workers have been furloughed and another 420,000 are working without pay, according to a Senate estimate.

And Democrats warned Mr. Trump against any emergency declaration.

“The president has no authority to usurp congressional authority of the purse. Congress must appropriate funds,” said new House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler, New York Democrat. “The courts should not permit it, and I do not believe the courts will permit it.”

He said such a move would be tantamount to the president making “himself a king and a tyrant,” and he warned the public to be wary of the president’s speech.

“I expect the president to lie to the American people,” he said.

Mr. Nadler was speaking outside a Border Patrol facility in New Mexico, where he and a group of fellow Democrats were investigating the death on Christmas Eve of an 8-year-old Guatemalan boy who’d jumped the border with his father.

The government shutdown is now in its third week with no sign of either side relenting.

“No progress has been made because the president doesn’t want to negotiate in good faith to end the shutdown,” said new House Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Nita Lowey, New York Democrat, on WNYC radio. “We have repeatedly given proposals and the Republicans, led by Trump, keep refusing.”

Administration officials say there is general agreement with Democrats on providing an additional $800 million for urgent humanitarian needs at the border, including enhanced medical supplies and services.

Mr. Pence said there is also agreement with Democrats on spending $675 million for “non-intrusive” inspection technology to search vehicles for drugs, weapons and other illegal materials as they come through official border crossings.

But Republicans said Democrats haven’t budged on the administration’s request for $5.7 billion for a barrier at the border, $563 million for 75 more immigration judges, or $211 million to hire another 750 Border Patrol agents.

Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen told reporters that the crisis at the border has grown significantly worse since last February, with about 2,000 illegal immigrants per day apprehended crossing the border.

“There’s a real sense of urgency. The crisis is getting worse,” she said.

She points to growing drug seizures and arrests of criminals, gang members and terrorists by Customs and Border Protection personnel as evidence of the need for a wall.

Democrats, though, said the hard drugs are coming through border crossings, while those on terrorist watch-lists are mostly being stopped at airports.

They say the families and unaccompanied children being caught are refugees fleeing poverty and violence in their home countries, and should be allowed to apply for asylum.

“This is a humanitarian crisis. This is not a national security crisis,” said Rep. David Cicilline, Rhode Island Democrat, during Democrats’ border trip Monday. “The president is attempting to use this to make some argument about the safety of the American people. It’s just not true.”

NBC, ABC, CBS and Fox all will carry the president’s address.

The White House has asked networks to set aside at least eight minutes for the Oval Office speech.

The four major networks aired President George W. Bush’s prime-time address on immigration in 2006, but did not air one by President Obama in 2014. At the time four years ago, network executives told Mr. Obama that his address was considered “overtly political.”

6 Comments

Trump needs to up the anti back to the needed total of $25 Billion and hold tight. Why put THE PEOPLE and the government through another shutdown in 12 months or whenever. Why are people going to get paid for not working when the shutdown stops? This Never happens in the non-government world when strikes occur. Pay those who worked while waiting bot not a dime for those who not worked. This is UNEQUAL protection of government employees over NORMAL human beings and is establishing an unlawful privileged American class. No pay this time, and next time the predominately Democrat government workers will think twice before voting for chuckleheads like Chucky.

I’m tired hearing Trump lies as answer to every question. I want to know why there are nobody knows how many millions of unidentified & unvetted illegal aliens living here at 100’s billion dollars annual expense & ongoing social & wage disruption to US legal citizens & why is Congress refusing to do anything at all about it causing inevitable disintegration of our economic & social well-being?

If we can ensure no illegal voting then we could have a national vote or even a petition to see how many legal citizens would choose:
1. For or against spending $100 plus billion year on illegal aliens.
2. For or against doing whatever needed to find illegal aliens & require them to be identified & vetted per legal migrant requirements.
3. For or against requiring home countries to accept custody & responsibility for unaccompanied minors children.
4. For or against visa lottery / chain migration.
5. For or against deportation of aliens using false federal documents (a felony for US citizens).
6. For or against amnesty / citizenship ever for any illegal aliens as they have essentially robbed legal migrants of their chance to migrate & become citizens.
7. For or against a wall wherever applicable, a visa entry / exit system & mandatory E-verify to prevent another 30 million of unidentified & unvetted foreigners from forcing themselves on us & displacing legal migrants.

And since many of those polls the media, loves using to show “Trump is wrong”, seem to only ever hit the same liberals time and time again, TILL I see a proper poll done on the US people (IMO by some natl referendum of ALL US citizens of voting age only), then i won’t EVER believe a single one of the “national polls”…

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